Why is a Blackthorn Shillelagh Painted Black

[@alexblue6991]

My age of sixty nine years old I remember my grandfather had one with the thorns I have a few without the thorns Alec from Scotland

[@barrettfenwick8028]

I'm fond of using Linseed oil. Boiled oil takes about 24 hours to set, and the paint based from it takes nearly a week to dry; but the final result is worth the wait! Also, I just really love the smell. :)

[@joeshea1010]

Francis that was a very nice approach to a very thorny subject.

[@McbrideStudios]

It would be cool to see a video on the different regional styles of Shillelagh.

[@FrancisMcCaffrey5]

No one knows I would too

[@fieldagentryan]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHrVindtmc95fpo

[@schylerreis5227]

In Oregon where I am from/live it rains all the time and we never use umbrellas either.

[@TheGreatest1974]

I love your blackthorn sticks. Especially the very straight ones with the visible thorn bumps on them, they are just beautiful. And to own a natural, hard stick like that, that’s been dried for a full 3 years, before being worked and finished to perfection, it’s a sight to behold. A stick and a protection to you. Your work will last for centuries. Family heirlooms, I wonder, do you wish you’d put a mark on every stick? A mark that you would recognise? It would be a great thing for a customer to be able to show the macaffrey burn stamp on their stick? I know that ‘seems’ corporate etc, and could be copied, but I doubt anyone would copy it. But it would show you as the maker. A class maker of sticks and shillelagh’s. ? I think you should have a way of showing it’s YOUR creation. Rather than other makers. ?👍

[@FrancisMcCaffrey5]

Thanks for the suggestion good idea

[@joeswampdawghenry]

@@FrancisMcCaffrey5 yes.. I shuld like yee to sign mine mate... Also i want it with very little finish..as I'll have a go at me personal touch.

[@joeswampdawghenry]

@@FrancisMcCaffrey5 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🌹

[@eploy2004]

Should also make a short video about caring for/maintaining one's cane. Also will the handle of a knob stick develop a patina over time? If so, can we accelerate the process.

[@FrancisMcCaffrey5]

Will do

[@dublinpiper]

I heard/read that, as you said, one way to dry season a stick was to shove it up the old large chimney. Plus, to preserve it, when drying, slather butter or fat all over it. So the water is leaving it, the oils are replacing the water, and the fine black dust of the soot is mingling with the oils while its penetrating. So the combination of drying in the soot, plus being slathered in butter, the oils soaking in - the combination of soot and butter/oil is going to make it black. Also when the wood is completely dry, and full of oil/soot - it will slow 'bake' up the chimney, which also darkens it! I don't have an old chimney, so when mine are 'shed/house' dry, I soak them in vegetable oil for a few months, then slather them in butter about twice a year - to keep them. Lovely work btw!

[@FrancisMcCaffrey5]

You had a bit of a mad process there! You will attract rats and no need to any of that.

[@fieldagentryan]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHrVindtmc95fpo

[@harvestblades]

A coating of creosote (from hiding in the chimney from the law) would really protect the bata from moisture as creosote posts have been used for posts (telephone poles, power (hydro) poles, & railroad ties especially for the section in contact with the earth or buried as it prevents rot really well. I read an old article that the writer cited a maker using blood from fowl that he rubbed in until it gave a black mahogany finish.

[@tonynapoli5549]

Thank you Francis now I know 😀 Oh yes both lovely sticks take care

[@sbboshardt]

Thanks!

[@danielgrahn5423]

So it's all about the look? I always figured it were methods for making the stick tougher for use in fighting and defense. Seems a lot of work with the butter and the chimneys and the dungheaps and the painiting with magpie-blood and all the rest of it. Cheers from Sweden!

[@FrancisMcCaffrey5]

Actually it was the way of life at the time. Farmers has dung heaps just throw a few sticks to season there not much effort on they or putting it up a chimney. Birds blood was just used as a decorative wood stain.

[@danielgrahn5423]

@@FrancisMcCaffrey5 That's true, of course. Guess my perspective is a bit skewed by a sequence I read in an old novel. A character is out for vengeance, and crafts a stick especially for that purpose. The bird's blood thing made it seem extra dramatic. Bit like Ahab with his harpoon.

[@marctaladay376]

I live in Florida and it rains everyday in summer, i don't think i own an umbrella. We know the rain will clear out in 30 mins. I am just starting to get into carving and now i need to add a walking stick to my list of things to attempt. I already am planning a churchwarden pipe and gnome or other figurine and now this... hmm now to go find a good stick... i have lots of magnolia trees and oak trees around me..

[@tomcatt998]

Brazilian pepper & crape myrtles make good hiking staff's

[@YaoEspirito]

Black walnut makes a fine walking stick, if you can find a nice, straight branch.

[@stephen8433]

Thank you.

[@DeanBritton]

I never considered there'd be different styles of sticks 🤔 i always just assumed it depended on what was available, I suppose it's like swords in a way, different makers have different trademarks and styles. Was there a common style in the Mayo area?

[@FrancisMcCaffrey5]

Not too sure about Mayo never been up that direction an enemy of Kerry in the Gaa!!

[@DeanBritton]

@@FrancisMcCaffrey5 this is our year, i mean it this time! Haha if not Mayo then im happy if Kerry or Tyrone wins the Sam, just as long as we keep the Dubs out this year! #Mayo4Sam

[@jethroe.davids132]

Are walking sticks like these good for hiking?

[@FrancisMcCaffrey5]

I used one for hiking

[@davidletasi3322]

I've hiked with mine for fifty years!

[@Killerclown667]

Any paint in particular? Is there any chance they’d use the old fire black paste? I remember my Nan using it to polish up the stove in the kitchen, back in the ‘70s. It’s called iron paste nowadays, Liberian makes it.

[@FrancisMcCaffrey5]

Not sure about that paste never tried it

[@Killerclown667]

Zebo grate paste it was called, it’s been discontinued now. Called my mother to ask. Mostly nowadays it’s called Black Grate Polish for wood burners. Love your page, great work keeping the old ways alive. I’m off out shortly to cut some blackthorn. Keep up the great work. 👍

[@colinedwards3959]

Nice 👍

[@seamush1654]

Handy for night attacks on the local dragoons too...

[@ianhobbs4984]

The unpainted is the better of them. But do you ever use a blow torch to colour them before finishing..

[@FrancisMcCaffrey5]

I did a little before mostly when I had ash

[@richardbarrett7544]

Do you use a special black paint, or anything available. What have you found the best Francis?

[@FrancisMcCaffrey5]

Glossy ones look good

[@guycalgary7800]

I am 6'4" and find that most walking sticks are way to short , do you custom order length?

[@FrancisMcCaffrey5]

I have plenty of sticks for your height. Just look at my website

[@Murch2013]

What paint do you use to paint sticks.

[@FrancisMcCaffrey5]

Black paint

[@Murch2013]

@@FrancisMcCaffrey5 Thanks Francis. That narrows it down.

[@wolfiesmith7674]

I use powdered walnut/water, makes a nice black dye that takes polyvarnish very well.

[@TheGreatest1974]

@@Murch2013 haha! Just fine sand your stick down really smooth, get some sanding sealer, give it two coats of that. Then use any gloss black paint- leave the top natural to show the grain, when the paint is dry, you can give it a coat of nice glossy varnish to protect it from the weather. If you want it really glossy, lightly sand down after varnishing- don’t worry about scratching the varnish, it’ll look bad but it’s not! After the light sanding of the varnish, varnish it again. All those millions of scratches will disappear like magic. And you’ll be left with a shine you can shave in.

[@YaoEspirito]

Or, another important question: What punctuation do you place at the end of a question?

[@Squatchy9393]

Do you know where I can get seasoned black thorn for carving

[@FrancisMcCaffrey5]

It’s a valuable wood especially when seasoned so most won’t sell they use themselves

[@Squatchy9393]

@FrancisMcCaffrey5 ok thanks anyways you seem very talented sir

[@anotherjoshua]

What do you use to blacken the stick and then seal it??

[@FrancisMcCaffrey5]

Sealer and black paint

[@BluntForceTrauma-bf1xe]

​@FrancisMcCaffrey5 just any black wood paint/wood sealer ?

[@johnmartlew5897]

Wild guess. Black …. thorn?

[@everybodylovesdevin8713]

Maybe the shinny black makes you look more like a gentleman.....little do they know.

[@coolkidmurphycool8757]

how do i extend it 2 inches

[@FrancisMcCaffrey5]

I do walking sticks too Which are longer.

[@1991tommygun]

🇨🇦 🇮🇪👍🏻

[@zeeleo6115]

Putting it in the chimney was more than aesthetic. Heat also hardens the wood. Painting the wood is not very authentic.....